Quentin Letts – one of only three ‘Winston’ award winners to date – has been justifiably critical in his newspaper articles of Maria Miller, a cabinet minister. So I found one of his articles, published yesterday, very revealing:

Let me summarise the key point. A (female) cabinet minister’s (female) special adviser responds to a leading journalist’s criticism of the cabinet minister by expecting the journalist to submit to the ‘chivalry’ card. It’s to his credit that Quentin Letts has responded as he has, by publicising the story.

What does the expectation of ‘chivalry’ towards poorly-performing female ministers say for the notion that David Cameron should appoint more women into his cabinet?